"A worthy predecessor to Civilization 2"

This game is a follow up on the incredibly good turn-based strategy game Civilization 2, where you took control of a society and, from the times of the stone age, took your civilization into the 21st century. It was regarded as the Best Game of All Time by Computer Gaming World and the 2nd Best Game of All Time (second only to Half-Life) by PC Gamer. Enough of that, this game is basically a much deeper Civ 2 but in space.

Graphics:

Sub-par. But, I'm not a graphics whore. The graphics make their point, but they aren't exactly pretty. It can sometimes be a little tough distinguishing units from each other, but nothing that slows you down too much. There are vibrant colors, and it gets it's point across. But I would much of liked for them to improve the graphics.

The movies are quite good. They are a very small box, so they would be clearer.

Sound:

There is not much variety in sound. There is the sound of the attacking/moving unit, the guy who talks in the background (Unit Ready. Construction Complete.etc) and there is a voice in the background while the movies are going on quoting a leader either in the game or in real life (I believe Sun Tzu was in there once..) I didn't notice much music, it was subtle, which fits the game. The sound is quite lacking all in all.

Control:

Point. Click. Drag. Nothing much, even though there are a mess of menus, but that just allows deeper customization, which this game excels out. There are plenty of hot keys also, so pressing H will fortify a square, Shift+A will automate a former, etc..

Gameplay:

This game really shines in this department. There is an incredibly deep amount of customization, for example, you can create your own unit. You pick if you want it as a vehicle, an infantry, an air unit, a sea unit, etc, then you pick the weapon, then the armor, some special abilities, and so on. That is just one aspect. There are a VERY large amount of technologies, even though some of them were quite meaningless to me. The battles were pretty fair in my opinion, nothing like they are in Civ 3 (ick), they are quite balanced. There is an extreme variety of units also. The automation is quite smart, the AI is a bit challenging, and the diplomatic part of the game is a bit lacking (you must constantly give in to other factions).

The only really annoying part I found with the gameplay to actually frustrate me is the mind worms. If you are not well prepared in the beginning, you will lose. These things will swarm you into the early game unless you drop the amount of worms that are around.

Replay:

Oh god, yes yes yes! There is a very large amount of replay here. Be different factions..create different units..win in different ways (Diplomatic? Win with your allies? Destroy all other factions? etc..).. try different ways of winning. There are limitless possibilities.

Buy or Rent?:

You can't rent PC games, but still, you can get this classic for $10 if you find it. Just get it, trust me.

+Incredibly deep gameplay +Wide variety of gameplay +Very atmospheric

-Can be confusing -Diplomatic side of this game is very lacking -Mind worms